ROAD TO PANMURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18040, 15 March 1922, Page 8

ROAD TO PANMURE.

THROUGH WAIATARUA PARK

FINE HIGHWAY DESIGNED.

SCHEME NEABING COMPLETION.

An important road-making scheme which will give access to the 200-acro park area reclaimed from the bed and shores of Lake St. John and donated to the Auckland City Council by Mr. R. H. Abbott, is now nearing completion. The road, which will connect i;he Ladies' Mile with the Panrouro-EllersHe Road, will also bring Panmure within an easy twenty-five minutes motor trip from Queen Street, and cannot fail to be a boon to residents of the district.

The total length of road is about two miles, and it will open up over 550 acres of land already subdivided for building, as well as giving access to Waiatarua Park. It branches off the Ladies' Mile a littlo above Ellerslie, this portion, 10 ohains in length, running through Mr. Abbott's property and having been constructed by him. This is a fine stnp of road, 90ft wide, well graded, and. providing for the building of an upper level causeway above the steep embankment at the upper end near the Ladies' Mile. Down near the shores of the lake is a 25-chain strip which the City Council is constructing; this is a much narrower road and has been built by the council merely to link up Abbott's Road with the 95-chain strip constructed by the Remuera-Pan-mure Company through its estate. The latter strip runs right through from the lake to the Panmure Road, with the exception of a portion of five chains not yet under construction. The Mount Wellington and Tamaki West Road Boards have not y<# decided which is going to construct the connecting link. The road laid down by the RemueraPanmure Company is a fine permanent highway, handpacked, with ten-foot sidewalks on either side and stone cementset kerb. It is anticipated that a tramline will some day be laid to Panmure, and when this happy _ day comes, no widening or straightening of the road will be necessary. There are a few gentle grades in the new road, from which a fine out'ook on the surrounding country can be obtained. The owners of the estate will set aside areas as reserves, which will be beautified and planted out as rock gardens. Although Auckland's new park area cannot yet in truth be described as a thing of beauty, its possibilities are sufficiently evident t'o impress a visitor with the future importanoe of this addition to the city's recreation reserves. Lake St. John is now litt'e more than a shallow pond, with swampy raupo-dad shores, but by the exercise of a little imagination one sees a chain of decorative lakelets, set in pleasant greep sward, with tree« and gardens ancTplaying fields where Auckland one day will love to picnic and make holiday. The reclaimed area appears to be rich and fertile soil, and should give good growth once \he necessary scheme of planting and beautification is undertaken. A road two and a quarter miles in length, circling the reclaimed lake area, has a 1 ready been surveyed, and a guarantee has been given that the road will be completed within seven years from the date of the-donation of the park by Mr. Abbott.

When the entire roading scheme has been brought to completion, it will be an important addition to Auckland's highways.